After a very strong start to his College Football career, Baker Mayfield should have been the one getting all the credit for the perfect start by Texas Tech. A bad performance and a bad ankle gave another freshman quarterback, Davis Webb, his unlikely time in the spotlight.

The high powered offense was gone, and any memory of the incredible game against TCU from last season was no where to be found. The Horned Frogs did a great job on defense, but just don’t have a quarterback that can carry them to a win on tough road games. David Webb stepped up for Mayfield who was injured, throwing a touchdown pass to Bradley Marquez, setting up the 20-10 win and the 3-0 start for the Red Raiders.

So the true freshman ended up saving the day, while Mayfield was playing badly, injured or not, for most of the game. He ended up with 216 yards on 21-of-40, but also tossing three interceptions. Luckily for him, Trevone Boykin isn’t the backup TCU have dreamed of. Boykin isn’t inexperienced, but against an improved Red Raiders defense compared with last season, he isn’t cut out to carry his team to win when it takes a lot of stepping up to do.

He finished with 23-of-36 for 194 yards, throwing a touchdown pass and two interceptions. He did have a big day on the ground with 101 yards, as TCU ran for 207, but missed a field goal and kept kicking the bucket through Boykins’ lack of passing ability compared to the man he’s backing up or his running ability.

So while TCU are going to have to do some thinking about how they’re going to play out the rest of the season and probably going to a much more running mode as long as Boykin is taking the snaps, Texas Tech find themselves with a 3-0 start, including the first ever conference win for 1st year head coach Kliff Kingsbury.

That’s about as ugly as you can win, but we’ll take it. Pretty bizarre, but I thought our kids’ effort was incredible the entire time. Played their hearts out and found a way to win an ugly game.

Texas Tech aren’t used to have their defense being responsible for getting most of the credit for a win, but Kingsbury is trying to change things. Mayfield is a running quarterback as well as one that fits the usual pass-first system, and Texas Tech’s defense is poised to prove through more difficult tests later this season (At Oklahoma, vs Oklahoma St and Baylor) that this season they have the balance to be more than just a fun spectacle, but also a team that can make some noise in terms of determining or even challenging for the Big 12 title if they’re a little bit lucky.

Even though four passes is a very small sample size to go by, Davis Webb is proving that there’s also depth to account for, and if things with Mayfield don’t work out in certain games or injuries become a part of the equation, there’s someone coming off the bench to rely on.